Server Version#: 1.25.5.5492
Player Version#: Plex Web—Player
Hello. I have recently configured my router to load balance a pair of WAN connections. One is a fixed IP DSL link and the new one is a DHCP cable connection. Both are active simultaneously and the router balances the traffic between them. I have set incoming port forwarding manually on both WAN interfaces and I have told configured Plex with the “Manually specify public port 32400” option enabled.
At some interval that I haven’t narrowed down yet, Plex will show a red X next to Remote Access. Going to that screen and hitting the Retry button will make it happy and I’ll get the green check mark again for a while.
Any ideas what is happening? I haven’t yet figured out how to tell my router to not load balance Plex and would prefer not to have to go down that path without understanding why it matters. If both WAN IPs are listening for 32400 and forwarding to the same internal host, why do the Plex servers on the internet care? Could I manually tell Plex what its outside-facing IP is like I do for the port number so it doesn’t get confused?
Actually, I do want that but I’m guessing you meant that Plex can’t do it. But how about just having it not get confused by the fact that there are multiple ways to reach it? One could possibly even manually specify the IPs and ports on the remote access screen where the port specification is now.
You can provide a URL to your server in the form:
http://server_wan_ip_address:32400
Plex will turn that into a valid, secure remote access URL advertised to your clients.
Note: If you do this, it is completely separate of the remote access configuration in your remote access settings. I’d actually recommend disabling remote access if you do this. Just ensure you still have your port forwarding configured in your router.
Yes, that. I was going to say something very similar.
If your router has the ability to specify that Plex should prefer one connection, instead of using round-robin for outbound requests, that would be a good idea as well.
Unrelated to your core question, I can tell you that the green checkmark in settings is not always reliable. On my setup, I made a dumb port forwarding error that totally prevented remote access and yet, that green checkmark was often present. Probe the connection in some other way for more reliability.
Hmm… Thank you very much. That looks ideal and I thought it was the solution at first but I am trying your suggestion and now having issues connecting and showing content from my Android app using my phone LTE outside my home network. My server shows offline and the library intermittently shows “No Items to Display” or “ is Currently Unavailable”. The server shows a red “OFFLINE” label next to it. While tinkering with it, I did notice that if I enable remote access after setting the custom URL, the remote access page does report a green check and shows the correct IP:Port info. But same non-functioning result from outside. I’m curious about why you said the two are completely separate. The custom URL did seem to affect the IP listed for remote access if enabled.
What model is the router, and can you share the Port Forwarding configuration from it? I ask because some Dual WAN devices create a Double NAT scenario themselves.
What precisely was entered in Custom server access URLs?
It should be http://111.111.111.111:12345, where 111.111.111.111 is the WAN IP address of the router (the default/primary/preferred connection) and 12345 is the port that has been forwarded to Plex.
That IP address and Port must be reachable externally. Tools like CanYouSeeMe and Is My Port Open? are helpful for verifying this.
When Remote access is used, Plex attempts to discover the router’s WAN address, configure port forwarding, verify that the port is open, and register the detected URL with the Plex Cloud.
If Custom server access URLs is used, the entered URL is parsed and registered directly with the Plex Cloud. No WAN address detection or connectivity tests are performed.
They’re separate in that Custom server access URLs doesn’t require Remote access to be enabled.
Here’s a helpful tool while working on Remote Access problems.
Similar yet different question: During some testing I did when i was halfway around the globe from my server, i found that connecting via commercial VPN to a location close to my server would yield better streaming performance. That got me thinking if I could have Plex have two outgoing connections: one direct/local ISP and one through VPN across the globe. Would Plex automatically choose the VPN connection if I’m close to it’s exit-node?
Plex doesn’t make routing decisions about where packets should go.
The server’s Operating System does, for each individual packet, based on the best path it can find - any configured routes, or (most likely) the default router/gateway. (If the best or default route is one that a VPN created, that will be used.)
And then each successive piece of networking equipment does so, looking up the “next hop” in its own routing tables, until the packet has been delivered to the destination.
There are many high-tech companies that attempt to solve the “hot potato” vs. “cold potato” routing problem that you describe. How do client systems know which route to use? How do you inform The Internet about that preferred path? How does the server know which route to use … but then how do the next devices that carry the packets know?
This is Hard to do generically for arbitrary Internet clients!
If it’s just for you, look at Tailscale & Wireguard.
